Speaker will discuss air/space reconnaissance

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Reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites during the Cold War are the focus of a talk on Wednesday, April 19 at 3pm in Rm 66-110 by Dr. Hans Mark, director of defense research and engineering at the Department of Defense. "Space Operations During the Cold War" is the 11th annual public lecture of the Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium.

Dr. Mark was director of the office that ran the recently declassified "Corona" photographic satellite reconnaissance program from 1977-80. He will also discuss use of the U2 aircraft, which took high-altitude photographs over the Soviet Union and elsewhere, including images that played a key role in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Corona, which initiated photographic satellite reconnaissance in 1960, helped monitor Soviet and Chinese military capabilities and flew 150 successful missions from 1960-72.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 12, 2000.